In a television interview the arrested broker (fixer) admitted he suspected that the "pax" was smuggling , but he was told the pax was a gold merchant ,transporting "pieces of gold ",the fact that he dressed up as a pilot to appear a member of the crew did not help the 2 real pilots . The Doninican prosecutor,also interviewed said that they normally do not hold pilots of commercial planes in similar cases , but this was not a normal commercial flight and all 4 arrested knew what they were doing .
So this was the base of his prosecution.
It would seem from a French custom official also interviewed I this program that everyone knew about the nature this flight and their arrest was planned, if not in PUJ at their arrival in France .